Red Cross: From humanitarian agency to a tool in China's kitty

While the Red Cross is considered as a humanitarian agency for the rest of the world, for China it is a tool in its kitty.

China's Red Cross hashas been built, funded and directed by the Communist Party of China.

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Although it is a voluntary humanitarian organization whose aim is to protect human life.

In China, it has effectively become an arm of theCommunist Party and does not cater to the needs of the people.

According to a video shared from Wuhan last week, government officials were seen picking up N-95 masks from the warehouse of Red Cross.

However, the same warehouse turned down medics who wanted medical supplies.

The Red Cross in China hardly used the money donated to it during the coronavirus outbreak byseveral major companies like General Motors, luxury goods company Lvmh and Honda.

Out of the 56 million dollars donated to the organisation, it only used seven million dollars.

According to media reports, it was merely following the instructions of Red Tape,the highly bureaucratic setup that is closely tied to the Communist Party.

China's Red Cross is often referred to as''gongo'' ora government organised NGO.

It has acted as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party for several years now.

China's political top brass has often been invited to head it. Thelist of its honorary chairmen in the past includes Vice-President Wang Qishan and Xi Jinping's predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

Butwhere the Communist Party goes scandals follow.

In 2008, the donations of the Red Cross tumbled due to a corruption scandal.

According to a report, 80 per cent of the 12 million dollars donated for the earthquake in Sichuan province, wasfunneled into coffers of the Chinese government and was recorded as an ''extra revenue''.

It was because of this controversy that people stopped donating and calling the organisation as China's Black Cross.

Little seems to have changed more than a decade later. Red Cross failed to utilise donations made to it for Wuhan.

It appears that critical supplies such as the facial masks also went to the government instead of the people.

Red Cross is still serving its master, the Communist Party of China.